Cais na Tire 180g
About This Cheese
Cáis Na Tíre flavour has a little earthiness and sweet notes of caramel and orchard frutis. Its hard texture makes it great for a cheese board but also for shaving onto pastas or salads.
TypeFirm
Rennettraditional
RegionIreland, Cloninaha, Co Tipperary
ProducerBarry Cahalan and Lorraine Davis
Milkewe
RindNatural / Plastic coat
€7.50
Story
The cheese is made in round slightly bulging small cylindrical wheels a little in the style of a pecorino. During the cheesemaking, the curd is left unwashed which resulted in a slightly flakier, more open texture. It is usually ready for eating from around 3 months but continues to improve up to around 12 months of age.
Cais Na Tire is made on the farm, 2-4 times a week and requires 7 litres of sheeps milk to produce just 1kg of cheese. Sheeps milk cheeses generally contain higher fat and protein as opposed to cows/goats milk cheeses which require a higher volume of milk to produce the same amount of cheese. To made Cais na Trie, the milk is pasteurised then mixed with active cultures and rennet within the vat. Once the milk coagulates it is cut to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are then placed in the cheese moulds and then steeped in brine. After the brine bath, the cheese are dried and coated to then be ripened for 6-9 months depending on flavour.
Cais na Tire makes a versatile wine pairing accompaniment, great with a steely white such as a Chablis, but also lovely with a ripe easy going red such as a valpolicella or a tempranillo. Also a good match with a medium dry craft cider.
Producer
Barry Cahalan and Lorraine Davis (from Borrisokane, north Tipperary) are a young couple who wanted to start a viable farming enterprise after they finished college. Barry and Lorraine both previously worked on dairy farms and had a love of sheep. After a visit to Stott’s sheep dairy in England, they built a sheep shed on the land owned by Barry’s family. One month later, they purchased their breeding stock, 70 Friesland lambs. That autumn, they erected a new shed specifically built for their new enterprise containing a bedding area, parlour, meal store and cheese storage facilities. In March 2013, the first lambs were born and then the milking began.
Goes Well With
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FAQs
Cheese should be unpacked and stored in a cool place, ideally around 5 degrees. Take out about an hour before serving, and allow to come to room temperature. Leaving cheese come up to room temperature (“to chambre”) allows it to develop a fuller, more aromatic flavour. Beware temperatures that are too warm (hot kitchen) and try and let the cheese come up to temperature in a relatively cool place like a cool pantry. Harder cheeses can need a little more time than softer ones.
Cheeses like cheddars that have more open texture pastes where the curd is not heavily compacted during the cheesemaking process can have occasional blue veining. Though this blueing is caused by unintentional rouge pencillium genus mould that has found its way into the cheese, it is often sought after for its contributing flavour.
Frequently, cheeses that start to grow mould while aging, in storage, or during transit can be salvaged and are safe to consume. In the case of blue/white mould that has begun to form, it can be scraped off with regular dinner knife or back of chef knife, and bloomy rind cheeses often begin to re-rind themselves on the cut surface which can just be cut off or eaten.
Spoiled cheese has some key indicators – if you get an ammonia/sour smell or taste then it goes in the bin.
Fresh, high moisture, young cheeses (think mozzarella/ricotta/mascarpone/cream cheese) that have mould growing should be discarded immediately.
Moulds that show up with black or reddish hue should be discarded.
Our primary aim is to provide delicious, quality, safe cheeses to our Sheridans customers however cheese is a living thing with an agenda of its own. If you believe your cheese (or other food item) has spoiled, please contact us immediate at online@sheridanscheesemongers.com for a replacement or refund.
Nutritional Information
Ingredients: Sheep’s Milk, Salt, Culture, Rennet, Lysoz (Egg)
For allergens see ingredients in bold
Nutritional values per 100g
Energy kj/kcal: 1670kJ/402kcal
Fat: 30.7g
of which saturates: 20 g
Carbohydrates: 4.7g
of which sugars: <0.1 g
Fibre: <1g
Protein: 26.7g
Salt: 1.6g
